


Bluebird in the Midnight Sky

by GothamRogue81



Series: Scenes from Gotham City [14]
Category: Batfamily - Fandom, Batman - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-20
Updated: 2018-09-20
Packaged: 2019-07-14 20:33:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16048052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GothamRogue81/pseuds/GothamRogue81





	Bluebird in the Midnight Sky

Harper released the trigger of the welding torch, extinguishing the bright flame. She tossed it down and flipped up her goggles. Admiring her handy work, she crossed her arms and took a step back. She’d finally done it. It had been a year and a half since she and her brother, Cullen had their lives changed forever. Having been supported by Bruce Wayne, they were able to relocate to Burnside outside of Gotham Proper to a small house they could call home, safe from their incarcerated (and emancipated) father. Now, Harper had a real work station out in the garage, which was stocked with equipment, also funded by Wayne.

She had invented and built several items for the Batfamily artillery, but this was her biggest project, and more importantly, she had built it for herself. Hanging on the rack was a harness with a large set of flat, stylized metallic wings. The custom designed accessory featured a hard-shell backpack style harness with retractable metal wings. While there was no engine, so actual flight would be impossible, the wings could expand out for gliding purposes, and the backpack featured a propulsion system which used medium strength repulsors to create blasts of energy. In essence, Harper could propel herself great distances and heights, while using the wings to glide. Flightless Flight. 

When she put on the pack, she looked in the mirror, tugging at the leather jacket and giving herself a wink. She reached up and pulled the cowl up below her jawline and sliding the wide visor mask back to frame her face. As it locked into place, the digital display screen lit up and the suit loaded. A computerized voice spoke, “Good evening, Bluebird.”

“Good evening Miranda,” She replied. “System report,” she requested.

Information flashed on the display as the voice responded, “All systems are at 100%. Uploading GPS coordinates to database. Weapons system in safety mode. Communicating with Oracle Network.” Harper moved around, testing the weight and mobility with the pack. 

The com-link sparked with static and another voice came through. “Who is this? How did you get on this frequency?”

Harper laughed. “This is Bluebird,” she said. “Officially online, Oracle!” she chirped excitedly as she stepped out into the backyard. 

“Bluebird!” Oracle squeaked. “You got a com-link!” As Oracle spoke, Bluebird scanned the weather and distance from her house, across the bridge to the Clock Tower. 

“Oh, I got more than a com-link!” she responded. “Patch in,” she said. She could here Barbara’s fingers graze the keyboard of her command center through the speaker. “You’ll need the code. It’s my brother’s name,” she said before launching upwards via the pack’s thrusters. The wings unhooked and caught the rush of air, setting her to glide. Another blast, and she started off in the direction of Gotham.

At the Clock Tower, Oracle typed in Cullen and her system linked up with Bluebird’s database. Readings started coming in from the system and she could actually monitor Harper’s creation, watching energy distributions, the GPS mapping, and even a visual diagnostic being obtained by her visor. “You did all this?” she asked.

Bluebird floated on the wind, soaring above the neighborhoods of Burnside, heading towards Brown Bridge. “Yeah, with a little help financially from the big guy, but yeah, my blood, sweat and tears.” She said loudly. She propelled ahead with a few short spurts of energy blasts, helping her coast along. 

“That’s amazing! I’m getting your readings. You did this with repulsors? That’s incredible Blue!” Oracle said. 

“I’d like to think of it is a first draft. I was hoping you, Lucious, and even Cyborg could help me develop it further. Feels a little weighted. Not sure how easy it will be to engage in combat, but then again, I’ve got plenty of artillery,” she said.

“Oh I definitely think we can handle that!” Oracle replied. “What’s it look like?” she asked. Before she could get an answer she heard a thud from above on the roof. She turned her chair around as the entry way opened and Bluebird stepped through.

“Ta-da!” she exclaimed. 

“Harper! I’m so proud of you!” Barbara said as she made her way over. She circled around her, checking out the suit. “You’re officially a caped crusader!” she said.

“Thanks Barbara! I really appreciate that!” she said with a smile. 

“I see what you mean about the weight of it. What type of metal?” Babs asked.

Harper let her examine the wings. “I used an aluminum alloy, but I feel like it may not be strong enough, especially if I come under fire,” she said. 

Babs looked it over, touching the metal and examining the circuitry. “Maybe a Beryylium alloy instead, or even Titanium. You want to be able to move. So it might just be a matter of refitting the wing pattern itself for a more compact fit. Tighten that form, you can tighten up the pack itself. I’m thinking you could probably use more power on the repusor. You might not need the wings…except maybe for show,” she said.

“Like Batwing?” she asked. Babs nodded, still examining. “Well, let’s just take it one step at a time. I’m pretty proud of this thing so I wanna enjoy it a bit before I rip it apart and reconstruct it completely,” she said.

Babs backed up, nodding. “I’m sorry sweetie, you’re absolutely right,” she said. “It’s amazing as it is right now, and you should be so proud of yourself!” The moved towards the command console. “I do think, however, that for your first few patrols, you should definitely have backup. Like you said, you don’t know how well you’ll be able to handle combat with it, or taking fire. So until we can get you 100% combat ready, you should have at least one of the gang along,” she said.

Harper nodded in agreement. She had weaponry, but she knew that Barbara was right. She was still new at the vigilante thing, so she had a lot of practice to do. As Babs resumed her post at the Oracle console, Harper headed back up to the roof and jettisoned off into the city, gliding towards West Harlow and Chinatown. As she soared above the streets, data filled her visor display: Heat signatures, address information of buildings that came into view and even facial recognition tech that she had snuck from the Gotham Police Department’s server while compiling her database. She knew she’d have to go easy on this first test run, at least until her backup arrived, so she zeroed in on the streets below and scanned for a hint of trouble.  
Below, she saw a group of teenagers hanging out on a stoop. Across the street from them, two men were arguing in Chinese. In the display the heat signatures of the two men were changing color. She zeroed in on them and as they continued to yell, one of them reached for their side. She changed course and zoomed down as he pulled out a gun. As she swooped down to the street, putting herself between the men and the kids across the street, she pulled out a small flat, circular object the size of a golf club from a side pouch on her belt, hurling it towards the gunman. 

The object let off an electrical charge, causing him to convulse, dropping the gun. The other man, though taken by surprise, jumped at the opportunity and went to reach for the weapon, but Bluebird stepped on his hand. The frightened man looked up and she shook her head. A little ways away, another man had seen what was going on. He ran towards her from behind. He grabbed her by the pack and she swung herself forward, hurling him over her shoulders. She spun, unleashing the wings to full mast as she took a knee. The man tried to get up at the same time and immediately slammed his head on the metal wings above him, knocking himself out cold.

Across the street, the kids cheered and Bluebird stood up to attention, retracting the wings and nodding to them. Next to the building where they sat, Black Bat stepped out of the shadows, clapping. Bluebird smirked. Bluebird crossed the street, clasping hands with Black Bat. “So Oracle sent you to be my back up huh?”

Black Bat nodded with a grin. The two walked towards the kids. “Who are you?” one of the kids asked.

“I’m Bluebird,” she said, crossing her arms. 

“Bluebird? That’s dumb!” one of the boys said. “How come you’re not all Bats?”

“Do you know anything about Blue birds?” she asked, strolling over towards him. His friends scooted away from him as she approached. The boy’s complexion paled. “Blue birds are fiercely territorial. They’ve been known to attack and even disable some dangerous predators that threaten their nest and their young…even snakes,” she said. “Gotham City is my territory, and I will protect it from whatever predators try to harm it’s inhabitants, no matter how big or dangerous…or how small and insignificant.” 

She added the last part, leaning down and getting nose to nose with the boy. He nodded and stammered, “C-c-cool!”

She stood back and the two vigilantes laughed.


End file.
